When the king's barge left the shore, shoved slowly along by the head of
the big hulking negro, Harry, of course, had not the faintest notion
whence he was being taken.
Perhaps he was just a trifle reckless. He was so at most times, but in
this case I imagine he was in the right. For the worst thing one can do
on meeting strange savages is to show mistrust or fear of them. If you
mistrust them, they at once suspect you, and the consequences may
sometimes be anything but pleasant.
It was not long before our hero found out that it was indeed a lake, and
not a broad river, on which he was embarked, and that it was studded
with about a hundred islands, over all of which this black host of
theirs was evidently the potentate.
He landed on one of the largest of them, and on a kind of rude pier
where nearly a hundred armed amazons were drawn up to receive their lord
and his guests.
Harry afterwards found out that he kept ten amazons for every island,
but they all lived near the royal residence, and were his especial
body-guard. Fierce-looking, stalwart hussies they were, with knives in
their girdles, spears in their hands, and leather-covered shields, that
were nearly as big and wide as barn doors.
Over these shields they grinned and glared in a way that was really
hideous. They rolled their eyes round and round incessantly, as if they
had been moved like clock-work. Perhaps, thought Harry, they go in for
eye-drill in this queer country. The reason of this optical movement,
he was afterwards told, was to prove to the king that danger could come
to him from no direction without their seeing it.
These amazons were dressed in sacks of cocoa-cloth, and wore tippets of
skins not unlike those of your dandy coachmen in Hyde Park. From their
legs and arms, behind and below, feathers stuck out, and as head-dresses
their own hair was done up into an immense dome, which stood straight up
and was adorned with the feathers of the red ibis.
All this Harry took in at a glance as he walked on behind the king,
through an avenue of most splendid trees, towards his palace.
I must dismiss the palace with a single sentence. It was not unlike a
haycock of immense size, with a door in the side, or like the half of a
cocoanut turned upside down. It was in an enclosure, in the very middle
of the island, and near it were the huts of the king's amazons, the
whole being defended by a strong palisade of roughly hewn wood.
The huts of his other warriors--and every one appeared to be a warrior
in this island--were outside the fort and different in shape and
appearance. They were, if anything, more elaborately built, and had
verandahs supporting their roofs, which only proved that his majesty was
a man of simple tastes, and preferred looking after the well-being of
his subjects rather than his own.
One of the largest tents in the enclosure was set aside for Harry and
his companions. It contained a dais-bed, covered with grass matting, an
immense grass-stuffed pillow, and mats on the floor besides.
He had not been long in this tent ere an unarmed amazon entered, bearing
a huge leafen basket, laden with the most delicious fruit, the perfume
of which filled the whole room. She also brought and placed near it a
huge pitcher of water.
This was all very gratifying, and Harry began to wonder where this
strange king learned all his civility and hospitality, and he really
felt a little sorry now that he had taken the liberty of smacking his
majesty on the fingers when he was attempting to cut off a button.
"How, on the other hand," he asked himself, "have this curious people
escaped the raids and ravages of the plundering slaver Arabs?"
Perhaps the Arabs had not yet found them out, or, having found them out,
deemed it impossible to attack them, so well protected were they by
water.
Nothing was done to-day by Harry except to wander about all over this
lovely island.
Indeed, the adjective "lovely" but poorly expresses the wealth and
beauty of flower and foliage that met his gaze at every turn.
It seemed a veritable garden of Eden. It must have been miles in
extent, yet the king assured him he might wander everywhere, and he
would find neither wild beast nor loathsome dangerous reptile.
His majesty went to his tent and did not appear again that day, nor was
he visible until late into the next.
Harry was walking about making friends with the cocks and hens, the
goats and the pigs, and with several charmingly plumaged birds of the
guinea-hen species, when he was summoned into the king's presence.
The dusky monarch was seated in the middle of his tent on a mat. So
black was he, and so dark was the hut, that, coming right in from the
glare of the noonday sun, it was some time before Harry could see him or
anything else. He heard the king's hearty laugh, however, and went
towards it.
He was beckoned to a mat on the floor, and fruit was handed to him.
Then the royal host began to show all the inquisitiveness of a child,
and evinced so much curiosity that Harry could not answer his questions
fast enough. But he delighted him greatly by saying that at home he too
lived on an island.
The king was exceedingly tickled, though, when told through Raggy that
we were subjects to a queen.
He laughed so immoderately that he was obliged to lie back and roll on
his mat, and for quite three minutes could say nothing but "Lobo! Lobo!
Lobo!"
In the midst of all this pleasant discourse two amazons entered, and
helped the king to rise.